Back in 1986, a group of music industry people headed by Ahmet Ertegun of Atlantic, Jann Wenner of Rolling Stone Magazine, Seymour Stein of Sire Records, and Jon Landau, manager of Bruce Springsteen, formed a committee to launch an award for the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame

The intention was to honour the inventors/creators of rock 'n' roll and to salute those who kept the flag flying

The Stooges were my all-time favourite American Rock band - but I like to think that Iggy would expose himself at the inauguration, that Scotty would punch out one of the judges whilst Ron merely shook his head and stared at the floor...

All these Rock stars are in Cleveland this weekend. Sounds so exciting. They just now showed Bobby Womack signing autographs & they said he got his start in Cleveland. They say Rock & Roll was born in Cleveland.

As far as I know, the Cleveland connection was just because Alan Freed was a disc jockey there when he started using the term to describe the music he was playing.

But I found one thing odd about this year's inductees. I was really happy to see Wanda Jackson finally get in (I'd written the committee once supporting the campaign to get her in), but I cannot figure out why she got in as an "Early Influence". Everyone else who fell into that category was pre-Rock & Roll, and all blues, country, gospel, jazz performers.

Wanda was pure rockabilly. I thought putting her in that category was a bit patronizing, as if her music wasn't really rock & roll.

She was a rocker -- she still is -- and a lovely, gracious woman too. I hope she enjoys the weekend.

On our talk radio station today, I heard something that was a nice break from their usual politics & it was educational for me. Two of the nomines this year are L. L. Cool Jay & Iggy Pop. They were talking about the new nominies for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. One asked why L.L. Cool Jay would be considered in the Rock Hall, but the other guys said, well there's artists in there from Country music, like Johny Cash, Chett Adkins. I heard some really geat guitar music by Chett Adkins I've never heard before when they were playing little pieces of their songs, to show how they crossed over into Rock.
It was an interesting converstation to listen to. Elvis is in the Country music Hall of Fame, as well as the Rock Hall and just by listening to these little short pieces of music, I noticed even more how all the genres of music actually overlap each other; like how Country music can almost sound like Blues in some ways, Rock can be country, & Rap actually has rock in it too. Of course, they all asked why certain artists were already inducted in there, & others weren't that should be in there. One of the guys said, "It must be based on how many tickets they can sell." I wonder if that must be true. It doesn't seem consistant.

Of course, they all asked why certain artists were already inducted in there, & others weren't that should be in there. One of the guys said, "It must be based on how many tickets they can sell." I wonder if that must be true. It doesn't seem consistent.